Webinar - The Trade Agreements Act

Recently, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) took unprecedented action to terminate contracts actively delivering technically acceptable products manufactured in the United States on grounds that purchases of products manufactured in the United States were prohibited if U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not also deem the products “substantially transformed” in the United States under its own rule of origin.

The VA then modified its standard national contract solicitation terms to state that offers of products not substantially transformed would henceforth be rejected and receive no further consideration, even if the offered products were manufactured in the United States. These actions and a latest round of CBP determinations that prescription pharmaceuticals are not substantially transformed in the country in which they are manufactured spawned a host of law suits in the United States Court of International Trade and a bid protest in the Court of Federal Claims (now on appeal) that have broad implications for drug manufacturers and suppliers in other industries. Please join Stephen Ruscus and Donna Yesner from Morgan Lewis for a discussion of how these two litigations are shaping government procurements and related domestic preferences.

This timely webinar will help you understand:

Why both the CIT litigation and the bid protest are important and to whom

Status of the CIT litigation and bid protest appeal

Behavior by the VA and CBP since the CFC decision and the CIT suit commenced

Impact of the litigations on ongoing whistleblower suits

Distinctions between issues faced by other industries and those faced by drug companies